Chinese ships near Senkakus again

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The coast guard is closely monitoring two Chinese fisheries patrol ships that repeatedly encroached near Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands on Thursday.

The two vessels were also spotted around the Senkakus the day before, the first sighting of Chinese ships in the area since Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara last month announced plans to purchase some of the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by both China and Taiwan.